


The Missing Birthday

by Evilsforreals



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-24
Updated: 2014-02-24
Packaged: 2018-01-13 14:05:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1229215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilsforreals/pseuds/Evilsforreals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was another prompt for a somewhat rarepair on Tumblr! Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote>





	The Missing Birthday

“Come on Connie, help me out,” Jean pleaded.

Connie eyed him hesitantly, buying himself time by scratching the top of his head. After a beat, he spoke. “Dude, I get in enough trouble as is, and this is some next-level stuff. This isn’t like my usual pranks, this is stealing personal information from Shadis’s office. Why do you need it anyway?”

Jean sighed in frustration. He hadn’t wanted to involve any of the other 104th, but he knew that Connie was the only one small enough and fast enough to slip into the Senior Officer’s room without getting noticed. “It’s nothing important, I-I just wanted to check on something…of someone’s….”Jean finished lamely. He saw Connie’s eyebrows rise, and cursed as he felt a burning sensation on his cheeks.

Connie shrugged, and began to turn away. “Sorry man, I’m not risking my neck on something that I don’t know anything abou-“

“IwannaknowwhenMikasa’sbirthdayis.” Jean hissed in a rush, interrupting Connie, whose head immediately jerked back to stare at him.

At first, he merely gawked at the blushing Jean. A moment later, Connie’s face morphed into an immensely satisfied grin. “I knew it. I fuckin’ knew it.”

“Oh shut up,” Jean spat. “Now you know, will you do it or not?”

“Why don’t you just _ask_ her?”

Jean shook his head. “I want it to be a surprise, I figure that’s my only shot to impress her.”

“Or to look like some stalker.”

“Connie I swear to God if you tell anyone else-“

Connie raised his hands in mock surrender. “Whoah there Romeo, you’ve convinced me. I’ll do it…for a price.”

Jean hadn’t been expecting this. He eyed the grinning boy warily. “What, my meal ration again?”

Connie chuckled. “Naw, Sasha always nicks enough for the both of us.”

“Then what?”

At this, Connie’s eyes hardened. “Sparring practice tomorrow afternoon. Take a fall from me in front of Sasha. It has to be believable.”

It was Jean’s turn to smirk as Connie blushed. “Finally going to try to move past being ‘burglar buddies?’”

Connie ignored the jibe, despite his own red face, and stared Jean down. He raised his hand, extending it towards Jean. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Tomorrow afternoon. Deal?”

Jean sighed, and grabbed Connie’s arm, shaking it forcefully. “Deal.”

Connie grinned. “Perfect, give me about twenty minutes. And get someone to help you keep an eye out.”

“Wait what?”

“You heard me. I’m not sneaking into his office without someone watching for him. Just find someone, and come up with some kind of alert for me. If anyone comes, you yell it, and can blame the shout on whoever you’re with or whatever. Just find someone.”

“But I don’t-“

“Find someone, or the deal’s off.”

Jean glared at Connie for a few moments, before relenting. “You know, you’re not as dumb as you look Springer.”

Connie rolled his eyes, and turned to leave. “I struggle with strategizing how to fight enormous cannibalistic freaks of nature while zipping through the air on wires. I’m not stupid about obvious stuff Jean.”

 

* * *

 

Jean raced through the barracks, fuming inwardly, still trying to come up with an adequate comeback to Connie’s insult. He glanced at the clock hanging in the corner. He had about fifteen minutes to find someone to help him keep watch. But who? He couldn’t ask Armin or Eren, as they would just complicate matters. Jean tried to think of who could help him:

Ymir? No way, too many questions, and just plain lazy.

Annie? Not a chance, she’d never get involved in something like this.

Maybe Reiner? But Bertholdt always hangs around with him and that’s too many people who know.

Marco-

“Marco!” Jean yelled, as he spotted the familiar freckled face disappearing behind a corner. Moments later, Marco’s head popped back into view, his expression confused. When he saw Jean, his eyes lit up, and a huge grin appeared on his face.

“Morning Jean, ready for training this afternoon-“

Normally Jean wouldn’t interrupt Marco, but today he was desperate. “Marco I need a favor.”

Marco paused for a moment, before quickly nodding his head. “Sure, what do you need?”

Jean grabbed his hand, and pulled him towards the offices. “I’ll explain on the way, come on!”

 

* * *

 

Panting with exhaustion, Jean and Marco arrived in the back alley of the Senior Offices. Connie was waiting for them, tapping his foot impatiently. “You’re late,” he grumbled as Jean collapsed on the ground.

“We were on the other side of camp, we ran the whole way,” Marco wheezed. He shot a glare in Jean’s direction. “I still don’t understand why you can’t just _ask_ Mikasa.”

“That’s what I said!” Connie laughed as Jean shot him a miserable glare. “So you’re cool with keeping a look-out?”

“Yeah I guess,” Marco muttered. He fixed Connie with a hard glare. “But you just get the information on Mikasa, clear? Don’t go looking for any more trouble.”

Connie nodded. “Don’t worry, I just want it to be an in-out operation. Ok, what’s the signal if someone’s coming?”

“Damn it, this is Eren’s fault!” Marco and Connie both turned to stare bemusedly at Jean. He grimaced. “What? I say it a _lot_.”

Connie shook his head hurriedly. “Fine, that’ll work. So just yell that real loud if someone comes-“

“We get it Connie, just go already.”

At this, Connie took a step toward, and gave Jean a hard shove, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “Hey, It’s _my_ ass on the line if you fuck up. I’m just making sure you don’t leave me hanging. Clear?”

Jean scooted backwards, slightly taken aback at the rarely seen serious side of Connie. A moment later, it was gone, and he was back to normal. “All right, I’ll be right back!” Without another word, he scampered up the roof and was gone.

Jean and Marco slowly made their way around to the front door of the office. There was no one in sight. Jean breathed a sigh, and pushed the hair out of his eyes. He noticed Marco watching him out of the corner of his eye. “What’re you looking at?”

At this, Marco froze, his eyes wide. “No-nothing I was just…spaced out and was just staring at you to…” His excuses slowly trailed off into unintelligible garble, as the two of them stared at one another. A door slamming in the distance startled them, breaking the awkward pause.

After a moment, Marco cleared his throat. “So, when you find out, what are you going to do?”

“What?”

Marco gave him a disbelieving look. “Mikasa’s birthday. Why else would you want to know? I thought you’d be putting together some kind of elaborate surprise or something for her.”

Jean shuffled his feet and stared at the ground. “I dunno man, I’m no good at that stuff. I thought, you know, something might come to mind when I found out.”

Jean continued to stare at the ground, realizing how stupid he sounded. And it was stupid. He didn’t even know what to do once he found out. With a sigh, Jean dropped his head into his hands. “I’m a moron aren’t I?”

After a moment, he felt a slight weight on his shoulder. Slowly, he raised his head to see Marco’s hand resting on him, his eyes cheerful and kind. “Jean, it’s sweet. You don’t have to have everything planned out. The fact that you’re willing to go this far for someone…it’s really cute.”

At this, Jean flushed. He couldn’t do anything to keep the heat from spreading across his cheeks. Everything was muted and quiet, save for the frantic pounding in his chest. To hear something like that from Marco, who knew _everything_ …

There was a loud unmistakable crunch of a boot on gravel that jerked Jean out of his moment. He shot a look to Marco, who looked terrified. Jean quickly jumped up to sound the alarm for Connie. “OH UH…UH…DAMN IT THIS-THIS IS ALL _YOUR_ FAULT MARCO!”

It took a good five seconds for Jean to realize what he had said. Marco was looking thoroughly confused, as did the guardsmen that had just rounded the corner. The guard gave Jean a strange look before continuing his patrol down the street. _“_ Oh, _fuck!”_ Jean muttered.

“Guys!” Connie’s head suddenly popped out from the alley. “Guys I got it, let’s get out of here!”

* * *

 

“Connie give it. Seriously man,” Jean growled, trying to keep his voice down from the other cadets on the other side of the room.

Connie lounged on his bed, looking extremely unperturbed by Jean’s threat. “I told you, you’ve got to take the fall tomorrow before you get this.”

“But-but what if her birthday’s tomorrow, and I miss it because you were being an ass?”

“Oh don’t worry it’s not tomorrow.”

“CONNIE!”

Jean clamped his mouth shut as some of the boys on the far side gazed at them curiously. Connie grinned, and poked Jean with his toe. “Relax man, I checked, if you hold up your end of the bargain, you’ll get it tomorrow, and I guarantee you’ll have time to come up with something.”

Jean glared at him as he batted his foot away. “You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”

“Not a chance. See you tomorrow.”

* * *

 

 Marco was an early bird. He liked getting up before everyone else and walk around the training field as a way to wake up and prepare for the day. Usually he would think about what kind of training they’d have that day. This morning however, his thoughts were elsewhere.

He gently shut the door behind him, and took a deep breath of the cold morning air. He could smell the wet earth, and felt a slight chill, as he set off along the field. As he walked, all he could think about was Jean’s outburst. What had he meant when he said it was all his fault? Was it just a slip-up because of the guard? There was that moment when they had been staring at one another that Marco had thought that he had felt something-

“Morning Marco.”

Marco’s head shot up, to see Mikasa walking next to him, her scarf fluttering slightly in the wind. “Oh good morning Mikasa! Out for a morning walk as well?”

Mikasa gave a slight nod, and the two of them continued around the field, watching the sun slowly emerge over the mountains. “What were you thinking about?”

“What?”

“You seemed pretty focused on something. I was walking next to you for about a minute and you didn’t notice.”

Marco felt a pang of embarrassment. “Sorry, that was pretty rude of me.”

“No, it’s fine. Just curious.”

“Not a whole lot, just…life and stuff I guess.”

“Hmm.”

She raised her hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes. Marco couldn’t help but appreciate the way the light illuminated her hair. “You know, Jean was right.”

Mikasa looked at him, her face confused. “What?”

Marco reddened slightly. “Oh just about, well…he told me about the first time he saw you, and your hair…it was really pretty then. Not-not that it’s not pretty now, but that…yeah.”

They walked in silence for what Marco felt to be forever, before Mikasa spoke again, softer this time. “Thank you Marco that’s sweet of you to say.”

“Well I mean Jean’s the one who said it first.”

Mikasa allowed herself a small smile. She looked up to stare at the sky wistfully. “I guess, sometimes it’s nice to know that someone thinks that way about you, you know? What if we all were just growing up, having a normal life? It’s the little things like a nice compliment here, or a greeting there. Reminds me what we really are.”

Marco was surprised. He rarely ever heard Mikasa say much at all, let alone something so intimate and profound. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Marco’s brain groaned at his half-assed comment. Here she was, sharing something meaningful, and all he could say was “oh yeah, right.”

Instead of looking hurt, Mikasa giggled softly, meeting Marco’s gaze with her own. The two stared at one another for several seconds, before the morning wake-up horn startled the both of them. “ALL CADETS REPORT TO THE FIELD FOR COMBAT PRACTICE.”

* * *

 

Jean glared at Connie, who was dancing on the balls of his feet, his arms outstretched and his fists clenched in an exaggerated fighting pose. “Your form is all off Connie. If I’m going to take a fall, at least be doing it right,” he hissed at the other boy.

“Shut up!” Connie muttered, his eyes darting around until he spotted Sasha nearby, expertly dodging Christa’s swipes. “Just wait until Sasha takes a break, and then go for me. Then I’ll-“

“I know, I got it the first time,” Jean grumbled, stretching his arms. It wasn’t that Connie had never gotten the jump on him before; his speed and unpredictability occasionally ended up with Jean pinned on the ground. But purposefully taking a fall was a lot more troublesome to dwell on, and at this point Jean just wanted it to be over.

“There! There, get ready!” Connie suddenly snapped, and Jean looked up to see Sasha and Christa walking their way, towards the water stand. Jean waited several seconds when they were almost on top of them before charging at Connie.

 Just like they practiced, Jean swung wide with his left arm, which Connie easily dodged, and grabbed the arm, using Jean’s momentum to catapult him over his shoulder. Jean noticed how blue the sky was for a split second before he landed ungraciously on the ground, with his arm pinioned behind his back. Jean struggle feebly against the hold, but Connie had it angled so any movement caused a sharp pain.

“Whoah! Nice one Connie!”  He heard Sasha’s excited voice behind him. He felt a slackening of pressure on his arm, and turned to see Connie extending a hand to pull him up. Connie was beaming with happiness, as Sasha continued complimenting him. He looked so pleased that Jean for once couldn’t find it in himself to say anything mean to ruin the mood, and merely gave Connie a wry grin as he grasped his outstretched hand. Connie grunted, and pulled Jean up to his feet. Jean felt a slip of paper pressed into the palm of his hand, before Connie let go.

* * *

 

Marco couldn’t believe his misfortune. After 30 minutes of getting knocked around by Annie, he tried to switch to a new sparring partner, and got Mikasa. His back was already feeling bruised from the pummeling Annie was infamous for, and his heart sank as Mikasa assumed a fighting stance. Reluctanctly, Marco rushed forward, bracing himself for the counterattack.

Instead of the usual counter, Mikasa spun in place, grabbing the wooden knife and deflecting Marco’s body weight, to merely throw him off course. Marco staggered off-balance, before righting himself, and shot a questioning look at Mikasa. “That’s not your usual counterattack is it?”

Mikasa simply shrugged her shoulders, her gaze firmly set on the ground. “I’ve seen Annie destroy every single sparring partner she’s paired with. I figured you might…appreciate a bit of a break.”

Marco smiled appreciatively. “Well me, and my bruised backside thank you.”

Mikasa laughed, catching Marco by surprise again. Twice in one day? This was getting suspicious.

* * *

 

Marco headed towards the showers, a towel wrapped around his waist, desperate to let the hot water alleviate Annie’s beating on his muscles. He was about to enter, when he spotted Jean in a corner of the barracks on his bunk bed, peering at something.

“So, did Connie beat your butt then?” Marco asked playfully, as he approached Jean.

Jean looked up angrily, ready to retort, but then he noticed Marco in nothing but a towel and turned crimson. “O-oh just leave me alone already!”

Marco laughed as he reached down and snagged the paper from Jean’s hands.

“Oi, give it back Marco!”

Marco shushed Jean, as he scanned the paper. Eren, Connie, Christa, ah Mikasa. “February 10th, that’s just a few days away. Got any ideas yet?”

“No.” Marco expected there to be annoyance in his voice. Instead, he heard defeat.

Marco sat down next to Jean. “Come on man, I know you can come up with something. I mean she really appreciated your comment about her hair when you first met-“

Jean moved like lightning, swinging an arm around, smothering Marco’s mouth with his hand before he could say anyting. “ _WHO TOLD YOU THAT?”_ He whispered in a panicked voice.

Marco flailed, attempting to pull Jean’s hand off of his mouth. He was able to pry it away to wheeze, “Mikasa told me this morning!”

Slowly, Jean released his grip on Marco, and stood rooted to the floor, staring dumbfounded at Marco, who was attempting to tighten his towel, which had come close to untangling. “You…you _talked_ to her this morning?”

“Yeah, it was during my morning walk. We were just kind of talking, and it…came up. And she mentioned that it meant a lot to hear that from you.”

Jean stood there, letting the realization of Marco’s words wash over him. She had _appreciated_ him. That was something. No, that was more than something. Abruptly, Jean gave a whoop and grabbed Marco, lifting him into the air. “I might have a shot! I might have a SHOT!”

Marco tried to smile, but Jean was crushing him in his tight bearhug which was growing more and more uncomfortable. Jean didn’t seem to notice, as he continued to shout and cheer with Marco suspended in the air.

“Am I interrupting something?” Jean turned to see Connie in the doorway, munching on a piece of bread.

“Nah man just celebrating!”

“By crushing a half-naked Marco to death?”

Jean looked up to see Marco staring at him with a very pained expression, trying to tug Jean’s arms off of him. In a rush, Jean let go, and Marco crashed to the floor, gasping lungfuls of air as fast as he could. “Ah, sorry Marco I just got excited is all-“

Marco quickly rose, and mumbled something before scooting past Connie and tearing down the hall. Connie smirked at Jean, as Jean retrieved the paper that had fallen to the ground. “What was that all about?”

Jean grinned at the smaller boy. “Maybe just…some clarity. Yeah, some clarity.”

Connie raised his eyebrows. “About Mikasa? Or Marco?”

“About M-wait what?” Jean looked completely baffled at the statement.

Connie glared at Jean again. “I already told you, I’m only stupid about Titan-related stuff. This-this is real life stuff. And it’s _obvious_ real life stuff. Don’t try to tell me otherwise.”

“Yeah, you’ve got it bad.” Jean whipped around to see Reiner lounging on a nearby bed. Jean hadn’t remembered seeing him when he first entered the room.

“Got what bad?”

“Oh come on Kirchstein,” Reiner laughed as he raised himself to a sitting position. “You like Marco don’t you?”

“And he likes Mikasa,” Connie chimed in, earning himself a withering glare from Jean.

“I didn’t want everyone finding out about any of this,” Jean fumed as he stuffed the slip of paper into his pocket.

Connie and Reiner shared a look or complete disbelief before breaking out into laughter. Jean glared at the two of them, as they collapsed on the floor in hysterics. “What?”

Neither was capable of answering for a few minutes. When one seemed to stop, the other one would chime in and they’d start all over again. Finally, while Connie was wiping tears from his eyes, was able to speak through his giggles. “Dude, everyone’s known about this. Everyone.”

“Are you serious? Your crushes are the most obvious in existence,” Reiner snorted, picking himself off of the floor where he had fallen moments before.

Jean’s eyes widened in horror. “So…everyone-”

“YES.” Connie and Reiner shouted at the same time, before dissolving into another bout of laughter.

Jean slowly fell back onto the bed, looking completely crestfallen. After a few moments, Connie and Reiner noticed Jean’s mortified expression, and the laughter was finally stifled.

“Dude calm down, there’s nothing wrong with liking more than one person,” Connie said consolingly, patting him on the back.

“But if they know, then-“

“What Connie and I meant to say was that everyone but Marco and Mikasa know,” Reiner chimed in. “For us it’s pretty obvious, because we can see when you change character when one of them is around and stuff.”

Jean still looked at the floor dejected. Connie sighed and got to his feet along with Reiner. “If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure Marco likes you back.”

Jean raised his head. “How do you know?”

Connie grinned again, as he and Reiner headed out the door. “Well he had a pretty big boner when he ran out of here after your hug.”

* * *

 

Mikasa began her early morning walk, alone again. She hadn’t seen much of Marco for the past few days, and he hadn’t shown up for their early walks. Still, for today, Mikasa had hoped to maybe share her walk with him again. Mikasa was surprised to feel a small pang of sadness as she made her rounds. Even if they just talked about random stuff, she missed his company. Suddenly she remembered what they had talked about last time. She had gotten all personal, and maybe…maybe _that_ was why he wasn’t here. She had scared him away, like all the others.

She sighed, and tried push past this feeling of sadness. It was strange, getting this emotional about someone other than Eren or Armin. They were family to her. But…ever since Jean had talked about how pretty her hair had been, she had always longed to be able to talk to him, to thank him for what he had said. He had talked to her like she was a girl, a woman, not just a fighter. And then Marco, sweet genuine Marco, always trying to see how she was doing.

Mikasa went through the day numb. She went through the motions, perfectly completing the practice runs and training assignments. But her heart wasn’t in it; she felt no satisfaction or any pleasure in her success. It just happened, and that was that.

As the day came to an end, all of the cadets were released to dinner. Instead, Mikasa decided to head to her room. She just wanted this day to be over. She slowly trudged down the hall to her private room. The cadet system granted the current top soldier cadet a private room, and Mikasa had been in this room since day one. Now, now she almost wished she was in the regular barracks, so she could talk to someone.

Reluctantly, Mikasa pushed open her door, and fumbled in the dark for the lantern. After a few missed attempts, she found the matches, and lit one. The flame danced in the darkness of the room, as she lit the lantern, and adjusted it to give more light. It was only then when she noticed the decorations.

There were bright red and yellow streamers hanging from the ceiling and draped over the desk and wardrobe. On the windows and walls, paper hearts and stars were pasted haphazardly. Directly over her bed, in large cartoonish letters, HAPPY BIRTHDAY was written. And finally, on the desk, there was a small vase full to the brim with white lilies.

Mikasa stared at her room, completely taken aback at the gesture. She hesitantly reached out to pluck one of the lilies from the vase. They were creamy white, speckled will tiny crimson dots. Mikasa inhaled the fragrance, taking a moment to appreciate the scent, before placing it back into the vase. But who-

There was a soft knock at the door. Mikasa froze in her chair. Everyone should be at dinner at this time. It had to be whoever had set up the room. She wanted nothing more than to run over and fling the door open, to see who would do all of this for her. But she hesitated. What was this? She had never been one to hesitate ever since that night that her life went to hell. Why now? Why?

Gathering her resolve, Mikasa slowly rose from the chair, and moved towards the door. She tentatively reached out to grasp the handle-

_Knock-knock-kno-_

With a burst of sudden adrenaline, Mikasa yanked the door open, to see Jean standing in front of her, his hand awkwardly perched to knock again. They stared at each other for several seconds that could have been eons. Mikasa found herself unable to speak. Jean too, looked as if he was gargling something, as his mouth kept moving but no sound came out. Shakingly, Mikasa pointed back into her room at the decorations, and then pointed at him. After a moment, Jean meekly nodded.

Finally, Mikasa found her voice. “Do you…do you want to come in?”

Jean’s face was practically glowing as he nodded his head. “Sure, yeah that sounds nice, hahahah!”

Mikasa stepped back, allowing Jean to slowly step into her room. Once he had entered, she quickly shut the door, causing Jean to jump as it closed with a loud snap. Mikasa gestured to a chair, and Jean slowly lowered himself into it, pausing to sweep some of the streamers off first.

For a long moment, neither said a word. Mikasa was trying to think of something sweet to say, to thank him, to tell him what she had always wanted to say, but no words made sense. Finally, one thought sprung to mind. “How did you find out it was my birthday?”

Immediately, a small part of Mikasa’s soul withered and died. There were no thanks, or appreciation; just a question, that sounded like she assumed he was a creeper. The look on Jean’s face confirmed it, and she rushed to correct her mistake. “I mean, it’s…really amazing what you did, but I don’t think I told anyone. And Eren's not exactly the best at remembering birthdays.”

Jean took a deep breath. “I-I may have asked Connie to break into Shadis’s office to see your application form.”

Mikasa gawked at him. “You…you risked getting expelled from the Corps just to find that out? Why didn’t you _ask_ me?”

“I’m beginning to wish I had,” Jean nervously chuckled to himself. “But I really wanted to try to surprise you.”

Finally, a smile appeared on Mikasa’s face. “I can’t believe you. How’d you even do it?”

Jean grinned sheepishly. “Well first I had to take a fall from Connie in front of Sasha, to make him look cooler.”

Mikasa chuckled at that. “He would ask for a favor like that. He’d do anything for Sasha.”

Jean nodded. “Then Marco and I kept a lookout to make sure no one surprised Connie, and the rest is history.”

“Marco helped you?”

Jean nodded, feeling almost guilty now that he wasn’t even here, since he had been a big part in helping him think hard enough to come up with an idea. And he hadn’t seen Marco since the incident with the hug-

_Knock-knock-knock_

Jean and Mikasa both turned to stare at the door. No longer fearful, Mikasa shot a confused look at Jean, strode towards the door, and pulled it open again.

There, in the same awkward pose with one hand extended about to knock again, was Marco. He smiled weakly, until he noticed Jean behind Mikasa, and his eyes widened in horror. “I’m sorry!” he choked as he pushed a box towards Mikasa. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, I’m sorry!”

Mikasa reached out and took the box from him with one hand. The other seized Marco as he turned to escape, and began to pull him into the room. Marco tried to free his hand, but Mikasa firmly guided him in, and placed him on the bed next to Jean. The two of them eyed each other as Mikasa closed the door, and then looked away, their faces burning.

Mikasa slowly opened the box. Inside was a delicate looking cake, with dark red icing, and sugary letters spelling out HAPPY BIRTHDAY. There were also sugar spun flowers creating an intricate pattern across the entire cake.

“It’s uh…red velvet cake, in case you uh, in case you don’t like that,” Marco said lamely.

Mikasa looked from the cake to the decorations. All of this. All of this love. For her. Tears began to well in her eyes. She placed the cake box down on the desk with trembling arms, and reached forward to grab both Jean and Marco. She pulled them close, and began to cry softly. After a beat, Marco slowly wrapped an arm around her neck and gently squeezed it, while Jean began to slowly stroke her hair. Marco felt something lightly on his other hand, and moved slightly to see Jean grabbing his hand. He looked up in surprise, and Jean just nodded his head, and smiled slightly.

They stayed like that for a long time; Mikasa stopped her crying, and was now clinging to the two of them fiercely. Jean and Marco were still embracing her, with their own fingers intertwined with each other. No words were necessary; it was a mutual feeling of affection for one another.

Finally, Mikasa pulled back with a watery sigh, and beamed at the two of them with shining eyes. “I…I never expected anything like this. Thank you. Thank you both so much.”

Marco and Jean smiled at Mikasa, happy and content. “We just wanted to do something special for you,” Jean said warmly.

“You both worked together on this?” Mikasa asked.

“Well not entirely,” Marco blushed again, while scratching his head. “I didn’t know if Jean had come up with an idea, so I…made the cake and was going to just deliver it and say it was from him.”

“WHAT?” Jean choked, his head jerking around to stare at Marco.

Marco smiled fondly at him. “I knew how important it was for you to do something special for Mikasa. And if I couldn’t, I at least wanted to give you a shot to-“

At that point, Mikasa and Jean both leapt forward, kissing Marco on both sides of his face. He immediately became incapable of continued use of the English language, only making small squeaks.

“Well,” Mikasa said, slightly breathless, “who wants cake?”

* * *

 

Jean was brushing his teeth in the barracks bathroom, gingerly trying not to move too much. He looked in the mirror, and saw hickeys and scratches all over his face and chest. Seeing the scratches and bite marks gave him a warm sense of butterflies in his stomach.

There was a creak, as the bathroom door opened, and an extremely disheveled Connie darted into the bathroom. His shirt and pants were ripped, there was dirt over his face, and a few twigs were lodged in his shirt collar. Jean grinned through a mouthful of foam. “Good night?”

Connie grinned. “Oh man it was amazing!”

Connie set about washing his face and arms, before shooting a questioning look at Jean. “So who’d you end up with?”

Jean was about to answer when the door opened again, and Marco and Mikasa both entered, looking exhausted but very pleased with themselves, and similarly covered with hickeys and scratches. Mikasa nodded at Connie, and then gave Jean a sly grin while sliding a hand across his shoulder. Meanwhile, Marco circled around and smacked Jean’s butt playfully.

Connie’s mouth dropped open in disbelief as he stared at them. “You…all _three_ of you???”

Jean grinned, as Mikasa and Marco began to laugh.

“ALL THREE? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was another prompt for a somewhat rarepair on Tumblr! Hope you enjoy!


End file.
